CIC: An appeal or complaint before the Commission abates on the death of the Appellant or Complainant - CIC upheld the order of FAA dismissing the appeal filed by the son of the RTI applicant who passed away before the filing of first appeal
20 Feb, 2015Facts
This matter pertains to an RTI application dated 3.8.2013 filed by Smt. Kesar Devi, seeking information regarding some land. Her son, Shri Sharvan Kumar filed second appeal dated 18.11.2013 to the CIC, which was received by the Commission on 27.11.2013. In this appeal, he prayed for direction to the CPIO to provide the information sought by his mother.
2. The Respondents submitted that the first appeal dated 9.10.2013, filed by Shri Sharvan Kumar, came up before the FAA on 29.1.2014. Taking note of the fact that the RTI applicant, Smt. Kesar Devi, had passed away, the FAA dismissed the appeal. The Respondents further submitted Shri Sharvan Kumar has filed another RTI application dated 13.12.2013 seeking information concerning the same matter and a reply was sent to him on 24.2.2014.
3. We have considered the submissions made before us. We note that an appeal or complaint before the Commission abates on the death of the Appellant or Complainant. In this case, the RTI applicant passed away even before the first appeal was filed. Therefore, the FAA was right in dismissing the appeal filed by the son of the RTI applicant. For the same reason, we will not consider the second appeal filed by Shri Sharvan Kumar. We further note that Shri Sharvan Kumar has filed another RTI application dated 13.12.2013 to get information on the same matter and the Respondents have sent a reply on 24.2.2014. In case Shri Sharvan Kumar is not satisfied with the information provided by the Respondents in this case, he may take recourse to the appeals process under Section 19 of the RTI Act.
4. With the above observations, the appeal is disposed of.
5. Copies of this order be given free of cost to the parties.
(Sharat Sabharwal)
Information Commissioner
Citation: Shri Sharvan Kumar v. District Magistrate in File No.CIC/SH/A/2014/000082